Saltus Grammar School - Yearbook (Hamilton, Bermuda)

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19 received from him repo-rting: his landing on Kaja but he conltinued to be mysterious about the object pi fthe search promising news of vital importance, later. On fthe third day a hurried S.O.Sl, was received Am being attacked . Two rifle shots cracked across the receiver and then silence. Hurried but careful preparation was made fpr the trip and the rescue paity carried both rifles and revolvers and a heavy store of ammunition. The weather wasn ' t good when they left Sakishima Retto but they didn ' t worry abput that. They didn ' t have to search far. A skeleton with the bones picked clean, lay on the beach. The two way radio lay in the sand nearby and Jack ' .s wrist watch (Jack was Forbes ' brother) lay near the skele- ton. The clothing was that of Forbes ' brother hurt it was all snipped and slashed. There was no certain identification but circumstantial evidence showed that this had been the unfortunaite stientist. One Libula was cut through as if by a claw, and in the remaixis of one hand was half of a claw five feet long. The party gazed at the sight except for the mate who rose magnificently to the occasiooi with the p ofound remark I h ope there aren ' t many more of those around at- tached to the body. They decided to explore the island thoroughly, making their depot the highest point on the island which was about fifty feet above sea level. The boat was securely moored to the beach but an hour later the man who was left on guard noticed she was mpving albeadily sea- ward. Deciding the mooring had snapped — she was at this time only fifty feet out — he swam ,out to her. No-one saw him go and no-ottie saw him again. The relief guard found boat and man missing and the mooring apparently cut. Puzzled and more than a little alarmed he rep)orted to Forbes. It was near midnight but both returned to the beach vainly searching the moonlit waters for some trace of the missing boat. The rope ' s been cut, said F,orbes slowly. Cut like the bone in Jack ' s foot , iD ' Keepe looked sheepish, It ' s fantastic I know but the islanders won ' t come near this island during this month. They w,on ' t talk abc it it. There couldn ' t be anything in that, or could there? I ' m remembering , said Forbes gravely, a reference in folk tales t,o this island as Cancer, I always thought it came from the Lat — Look! he yelled. The sea was heaving with huge shapes. The two men raced for the camp and gave the alarm as the first of the monsters reached the beach and started to climb slowly purp osefully toward them. Hastily

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18 The Shipwreck One day in winter my grandfather was sitting by the fire telling me one of his many stories. This sftory is about how the sailing ship ' Maria ' met her end; he said, with a twinkle in his eyes, and how sixty people lost their lives . . I had booked my passage on the ship, and on a Saturday in May the ship seit out. Before she reached the open sea storm clouds were seen on the horizon. The captain decided to carry on despite the clouds and the wind which was now blowing. The sky became black, the wind whistled in the ship ' s rigging which creaked with the strain, and the terrified passengers had to go down into an evil-smelling i oom which was mostly used for playing games and gambling in. All through that night the storm raged, the thunder roared, and just before dawn one of the masts went overboard tangled in a mass of rigging. When dawn broke it was found that the seams had opened and the ship was leaking badly, so badly in fact that the passengers had tp help the sailors with the pumps. But this did not help, and an hour later the ship sank and sixty-nine lives were l ost. How could sixty-nine livets be lost when I heard you say that sixty people lost their lives? I asked;. The ship ' s cat was lost as well, he answered. Hjow did you survive? I asked. I missed the ship, was his prompt reply. P. R, T. HTLLIEP, Form V. Cancer On the nineteenth of July 1969 a small well-armed party landed on the rocky uninhabited Kaja. The leader, Forbes was a tall man in his early forties. He was well built and had a strong intelligent face but although re trained it was obvious he was worried. The hasltily assembled group was searching for Forbes ' brother, a scientist who had been working on marine life in a small boat, four days previously and had sent bnck a repprt on his itwo-way radio that he had seen ' evidence of e ' e t im- portance and would give details later. Several messages had beert

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20 Forbes lit two flares while the rest started firing. The bullets found their targets but bounced harmlessly off the armour-like backs of thetse monsters. oeveral were shot through the eyes and were obviously killed instantaneously but the others ignored them and oame steadily on while from the sea more and more hastened to the attack. The men went on firing until the first claws clutched their weapons. Several days later the empty boat was found drifting, by a fishing boat which towed it to Lakiskima Retjta, On the island the giant crabs feastted and celebrated until midnight on the tweaity first of July when they slipped one by one ir. ' to the sea to remain there for the next eleven months. J. GILLAN, Form 4L. Easy Able Eight Suddenly, a brilliant orange light rent the blackness of the nighf,, pushing its way through the rain and low-hanging clouds over a lone expanse of a desolate part of the Atlantic. Seconds later, it mush- roomed onto a fiery commet as it plummeted seaward in a horrifying, but graceful arc, and was terminated in a series of thunderous ex- plosions, accompanied by a spectacular, but gruesome finale. So end- ed the noble career of Easy Able Eight , together with her proud crew of eleven valiant Navy men. Less than four hours earlier there had been these fine men receiv- ing their final preflight briefing . . now death, Po itipn reports were to be made once hourly following take-off. All radar contacts were to be investigated by homing in and descending tp sufficiently low alti- tude to facilitatte lighting up the target with Easy Abel Eight ' s many-million candle power searchlight;. Name, liationality, type, course and s peed were to be reported. All of this in the blackness pf the Atlantic night hundreds of miles from base, and in spite of tho weather — a routine flight for the well trained crew of Easy Able Eight . But something happened on the night of 22nd. October First evidence of the tragedy that had already occurred, was foretold in the missing position report at the end of the fourth hour, but nobody was anxious — for many of there rep oiits are delayed by more important! dutie s on board the aircraft, others arrive late because of the necessity to relay the report via a distant land stativon.